A tech lead owns the technical outcomes of a team; an engineering manager (EM) owns the people and organizational outcomes. They overlap and must partner closely, but the accountabilities are different. In some companies one person does both; in most, they are separate roles.
| Area | Tech Lead | Engineering Manager |
|---|
| Primary focus | Technical direction, delivery | People, growth, team health |
| Owns | Architecture, quality, how we build | Hiring, performance, career |
| Decisions | What is technically right | Who works on what, headcount |
| 1:1s | Sometimes (technical/project) | Always (career, wellbeing) |
| Measured by | Technical outcomes shipped | Team retention, growth, delivery |
An engineer is struggling. The TL notices their pull requests have quality issues and pairs with them on the technical gaps. The EM has the harder conversation about performance, sets expectations, and owns any formal process. The TL informs the EM; the EM owns the people decision.
The best TL/EM pairs share context constantly. The TL flags technical risk and who is over/underloaded; the EM handles staffing and growth. When they are not aligned, engineers get conflicting signals.
TLs usually have no formal authority, you lead through influence, not org charts.
Knowing where your lane ends keeps you from stepping on the EM's people decisions.
And if you eventually want to manage, understanding the EM role tells you whether that path appeals to you.